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[Whistle blows]

Speaker 1

Episode six. Football Talks The Shared Passion of the Beautiful Game. A Semi-Pro Football with F.A. Cup Qualifier appearances involved in QPR on kind of development centres and formerly played for London Academy Rise and Bowlers FC who work with the best onside talent. He's also an aspiring business consultant studying genetics at the university. A founder of award winning fashion designer, brand born standout and owner of Kenzie Club, welcome to the Football Talks podcast - Austin Richey.

Speaker 2

Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1

So many things, you know, that show off my LinkedIn LinkedIn bio, but you know you've got each what a proper introduction, you know? Yeah. So just tell everyone a little bit about yourself, your relation to football and obviously the things you've been then. Yeah, it's good to have you on.

Speaker 2

Thanks for having me on. I'm I'm Austin Ekeler, football is my first love, innit, I played it since I was seven years old. To my first team official, my god before about my first team officially from seven and just love it from there innit and I just played right from seven years old to now 21, 22 next month, there's some ups and downs and good memories and bad memories but you know listen I've always enjoyed it

Speaker 1

That's good, that's good. And obviously you're not just like let's say focussed on football, you're doing a lot of things from business, obviously a uni student. How does that feel? How do you obviously juggle everything?

Speaker 2

It's weird innit. I'm, me, I'm quite an active person. It's a lot doing a lot of things, like if I see opportunity, awesome, I might enjoy and go for it. And so that's my passion. And so I just out of curiosity, and I feel like yours is a very good trainer, like being curious or willing to try new things, see what works because a lot people say you don't want to do doing, they don't know what they want to do, the lives or what enjoy or the passion about. Yeah, but you try different things, you see what sticks in it and what you might enjoy and what you're, you know, gravitate to gravitate towards doing it. It's always been curious to see all that. What would that be like? Would I be like, you know? And which is why my curiosity has led me to things to do things outside of football.

And I feel like with football, growing up I wanted to be pro like most kids. Year six I start getting attention from academies like Reading Academy, you're interested in me, Cardiff. And I was like one of the best plays my league in it.

I played really well for that one because I was good. Now I for you know what, I'm actually kind of making it because that might that get into this kind of thing or you never materialised. Yeah, but I think, you know, the first dream and then I think got older, I thought I learnt that actually draw on a lot more maybe similar maybe for reasons that we much course has put our podcast for like, footballs got a lot of politics and I'm saying and like and you’re not always in control you could be a good player and the coach doesn’t like you, whereas entrepreneurship is more based on you and you is more in your hands and your control now I like that I'm saying also that the pressures where I feel like I'm didn't feel the pressure, it better now but I feel like when I younger the pressure got the point you know yeah I can really enjoy it because I'm not so much pressure always now for me now I'll be more mindful and doing more meditations I gravitate towards that more now it was as much now the same way if I became a footballer now, I don't know if I can really enjoy it as much I would like to because the pressure now kind of thing with all of the pressure, you know. Yeah. I kind of enjoy the pressure at the moment. I feel like right now in my life, a lot more of him quite like…

Speaker 1

Gaining the perspective of someone who does more than just football and still enjoying football at the same time was quite interesting.

Speaker 1

Trailer: Football Talks, The Shared Passion of the beautiful game. Then from football talks, what are we going to talk about? The players state of mind? Is it financial game now or is it passion? The game continues. Yes, sir. Grassroots football. Any big news that's coming into the world that right now? Exactly. It leads to more than that as well, not only about football, but also the wider society as to how, for example, those that aren't even in the limelight, how they react to not be necessarily the big time players well, we talk about the current crisis that going on in the world, how the World Cup, they're trying to have it every two years and the players reaction to that to get this get it in because I call them me my star boys, my asana. Yeah, my gunners. That's so we're going to be covering on Football Talks to follow us on Instagram to stay updated on our latest post at Football Talks. Of course. Absolutely. 7th of January on ankle, we will be having a special guest with us.Make sure you don't miss out! [singing]

The trailer incorporated everything we wanted to have in episodes and I think we were able to do that from episode one, episode eight. Giving people an insight on what they're going to hear next is beneficial

Episode one: So yeah, we'll obviously start with how you got into football.

Well, obviously your passion in football. How did your from a tender age, of course get into it and start obviously liking it?

Speaker 3

Well from well, actually, my first sport was rugby and tennis. I played I played those two sports, I think when I was about I'd say about five, six around that time. And then I also, I think I'd probably have like a ball at my house, I'd have a garden and I just kick about from that age and I guess from that point as I just sort of so like saw other people my age was just like playing football for fun.

I think I probably would have wanted to join in at that point because at that point I think I would have. I enjoyed football a lot more over the two other sports and it just sort of like took my mind more than the other two. So I think at that age I think it was under under sevens or under eight.

I just joined my local local Sunday League team, but just, just for fun at that point, because I just enjoy kicking the ball about. And then it sort of it took off from there and um, yeah, I just enjoy playing a small age Sunday League and um, yeah, I was just enjoying myself.

Speaker 1

Having a young player speak about his disappointments in football and yet his determination was something that was quite inspirational too.

Episode 2: And then also, how would you. How would I phrase this is, for example, like the disappointment that Julian obviously felt when he got released as a parent. How did you know? Motivated by. Right. How did you take it as well?

Speaker 4

I I took it much worse. I mean, it's, um, it's, it's well, you obviously parents have a that there's a kind of, you know, love for children is something you can't quite explain but it's very, very profound. And, you know, and having spent so much time following him through this kind of career path, you know, he knows, you know, I'm a bit of an emotional guy sometimes, and I certainly let it all out.

But I was concerned that he didn't. And I think he's been very, very honest about saying that it hit him slowly and that he didn't really know what what the full impact was until later on. I kind of sense what a big change this was. And I was very upset. But it was it was really hard because as Julian's also said in answering you, he he did fall out of love with the idea of doing things at a professional level.

I think he was never going to fall in love, fall out of love with football as a game. But he did lose that will to think he could be a professional or wanted to be a professional and that was hard because I had to we had we both had to my wife and I had to try and understand where he was and what he really wanted because in the end and this remains the case, Julian can do whatever he wants, you know, but it's this fact that he clearly had and has a talent that could translate into being a professional footballer that makes you feel that you've got to have every possibility of that being the case if, if you can. So you know, we had this period whereby we agree that he should have a, you know, just to have some fun with his local another local club. Again, but then I actually from the coach, from that local club, the first time I met him, he said, well, why don't you consider Nigel James?

And so that happened quite quickly. After him getting back into football after the first lockdown. And and we had it very tentatively. Julian didn't really want to get moving. That is at first. We said, just don't worry about it. Just try it out. And if you don't want to do it, you don't have to. I remember having to tell Nigel James and admin, you know, can we just try it out and see how it goes?

But they are also used to this and Nigel James, I think it didn't actually happen, but he was in you know, it was going to be a television documentary made about released boys and he was going to be part of it. And it's going to head yet. I think it has. Yeah. Because it's a big issue. And and also, you know, he's got some really good football is in his in his academy and you realise what a close run thing it is that there's a lot of really talented boys and you don't really know why certain ones go ahead and go forward.

It's not always about talent. It's also about luck. It's also about prejudice. Yeah. And what coaches think are the, the players that they want or the kind of game that they want. Um, you know, Julian's game isn't such a physical game. It's a very intelligent all round football game, and but that wasn't always what they wanted. You know.

Speaker 1

I think getting a parental point of perspective on how they raised a child when they obviously in an academy was something that I find quite moving

Episode 3: Like so obviously from your time at Woking, um, I don't think, are you there anymore was what would you, what is your current status because I know you've put a brake on seeing as professional if I'm correct and going to more focussed on your studies. So would you say you're up to now what's, what's going on. It's football more of like a leisure thing he's having fun with it. What’s it like?

Speaker 5

Like I'm so I'm a so the second you start playing first team, so the first year, the first year when I scored that goal I was on top of the world. A lot of teams were interested like, like I said it was well documented etc etc. I thought that was, like I said, the pinnacle of my career.

The next year I was already playing at all. I went to, well, I don't want to say it to a dark place, but I wasn't. I was I just wasn't enjoying football whatsoever. I really lost the love for it. I wasn't playing, I think along with the manager, too. Yeah. Nothing was going on my way type of thing.

I would say, as well as I got. That is down to me as well. I don't put blame on anyone. That was down to me as well. So the after that year so I said to myself, look, I need to take a break because I just wasn't in the right mind frame.

I had no tribal motivation football whatsoever. Then did a waiter job for about half a day and I left because I was like, I can't do this. I just wasn't made the sort of serve people. So I left. There's no shame on sort of serving people that this wasn't me. I couldn't I couldn't do it. So I left early. I remember that day I called my mum and I cried on the phone because like, look, I don't even know what I'm doing my life right now. I and then, yeah, I then join the agency for, through a friend for through the agency was I sent to a SEMH school in Bromley initially I went and I was like, look, I'm just doing this will get people off my back. So people don't say, Oh, you know, African farmers are like that when you're not working…

Speaker 1

We know about them if it’s not studies I don’t know what you’re on.

Speaker 5

Yeah, and I was never really on the uni thing. Reason being is like, I hated education. I couldn't stand it. And I thought to myself, I'm not going to go and spend another three years on education. I'm not going to enjoy it. So I need to find something to do. So like I said, I got sent to the school and it's a different type of school.

It's not, it's not like a mainstream life favour. And I went to, I said I much more. SEMH stands for social, emotional, mental health. So that's what the students, all of the students there will have a diagnosis of CAMH but yeah, I enjoyed it straight away. I think that's going to enjoy it by most was that I wasn't… a part of reason why I thoroughly enjoy my last year of playing football because I felt like a lot of politics around football in terms of who plays and what have you got your contract on? How old are you and are you the manager's best mate or whatever it was. And I felt that when I went to this job was just solely based on the hard work, the hard work I put in.

So I'm yeah, I ended up progressing very quickly and I'm still here to this day.

Speaker 1

This episode in particular was extremely emotionally moving. Hearing how he played for Arsenal and how he's going on now. Good to hear that. He's doing good.

Episode 5: Get the Canadian perspective on football or soccer, as you call it. We're going to call it football for the next 15 minutes.

Speaker 5

All right. I'll, I'll, I'll, I will allow that. I will allow it.

[laughter]

Speaker 1

So especially with the, let's say academies list of the academies, how do you let's say get into football in Canada? Is it like a grassroots section before the academy or do you just basically go straight into the academy?

Speaker 5

Well, so that's to be honest, that's a huge that's a huge question because in in Canada we up until very recently the the pathways to you know, I would assume that you're talking about like, you know, pursuing a professional career. There haven't been like pathways, you know, like everyone individually kind of had to forge their own route. Usually that meant going to Europe and, you know, like there haven't been there haven't been a whole lot of professional level academies like, you know, in Canada, the the Canadian Premier League, which is, you know, our top level league that only started in 2019.

There was a league that's professional back in the late the late eighties and early nineties but it didn't last too long. Um, I don't think many teams had really proper academies so it's been only recently that, that a proper pyramid has really started to develop you know, so now we have your top division which is the Canadian Premier League.

We don't really have a division to at this point that leads into that, but we do have a few regional division, three leagues which do kind of act as pathway to the professional level you know, Canada is so big that, you know, like a road trip within just Ontario, you know, that can be you know, a 12 hour trip one way, 12 hours back so it's it's hard.

It is hard to to organise leagues and make sure everyone can compete for that just because travel costs so much. But now we have a league in British Columbia that is just starting up this year. The last few years we've had men's and women's divisions in League One, Ontario. And there's also a Quebec league, which is the Premier League do soccer sorry, de Quebec and so so regional clubs kind of produce players now that that had the option of of either playing at universities in the United States or in Canada.

And often those players also play in these division three leagues and and from there they can be scouted to, you know, either to Premier League teams in Canada or the States or or anywhere else. We've had players you know, assigned to teams in, you know, Israel, Germany, places around the world. That's only been a recent development and it's still it's still kind of evolving.

And and, you know, you asked about academy is there there aren't there aren't really a lot of academies Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps both have academies and they kind of branch out into different areas just because there is such a vacuum. But otherwise our academy system is still it's it's still really they got their ground floor.

Speaker 1

I think this episode, was great to hear someone from across the world in Canada to talk about their football experiences. I think having a different perspective on football from a completely different footballing nation is something that's really good

Episode 4: for example, strikers with any ones that never goes. But now today's age, if you're winger when you go for me too, if you're a centre attacking a midfielder, you need to be a goal scorer and second midfielder.

Defenders from corners, you got even defenders in backs, you ain't got a few goes to Italy this season. They don't dig that. Glee is like the whole week games on Ventura or something. They're guys like, Oh, I'll go, people going. But you shouldn't really be relying on, let's say wingback they’re wing-backs. But I not going is the running backs.

If anything assists fun, I can understand that but goes goes when you when the opposition has you must go season the defenders that's that's a problem that's a problem Chelsea do better.

They’re third, I mean you can't really say much about how they do now I think that by their standards this is by their standards can you really complain.

I don't think you can. I mean third isn't too bad compared to let's say awesome fifth exactly your fifth when you're out in the top four is the season finished? But current stats their top four so I agree right now and wait let's let's just rewind a bit how long has it been since you have been to Champions League?

Ok, that wraps up another couple talks so I'm in favour with vaccine.

Catching up in the world of football and other footballing news was beneficial to inform the public what's going on. The ability to mix debate with current news was something that was really enjoyable

Episode 8: Yeah, it's been the season review and it's been a good, great good football talk series, I think.

I think it's been great. It's been a good series on the show to talk about the experiences because we laugh a few cries. It is well it's been vibes. Yeah, it's about the vibes FC. I've been your host. Thank you so much for tuning in. Adios.

Thank you for listening to this episode. Make sure you follow us on our Instagram at Football Talks to keep up with the latest news and updates and all episodes.

Also check our website football talk at wix at dot com for slash football talks on our dedicated podcasting website, you will find information on future episodes as well as re watch possible older episodes available on Uncle and Spotify as well as our website

I think the ability to read the teams and also have a debate is something that's always very good and keeps us authenticity writes it.

And I think it's good that we can review what's been going on in the world of football as it's coming to a close.

[Whistle blows]